Kellie Pickler and More Celebs Who Looked Stunning After Shaving Their Heads

By Chelsea Duff December 28, 2017

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style

We’re used to celebrities always trying out new looks, but no one did it better than these stars who shaved their heads. Going from long-locks to a buzzcut is a dramatic change, but if anyone knows drama, it’s Hollywood. Whether they’re making the switch for a role, to support a friend, or just for a change, stars like Goldie Hawn‘s daughter Kate Hudson and country singer Kellie Pickler have grabbed the clippers and gone, well, basically bald. The best part? They totally rocked the edgy hair looks.

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Some celebs ditch their hair for a role, then hide behind wigs or stay out of the public eye until their locks grow back to a respectable pixie cut length. But what we love about these stars is that they didn’t just go for the big chop. They totally worked it, on the red carpet and out to events and just hanging out with their friends. And they looked so good doing it that they’re kind of inspiring us to follow suit. We’re not quite ready to reach for the razor yet — but checking out these celebs with their close crops, we’re not feeling far off.

Check out the gallery below to see celebrities who’ve rocked the shaved head look.

Kate Hudson Shaved Head

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Kate Hudson

She shaved it all off for a role in Sisters, Sia's directorial debut. "When [the cut] first started, I didn't think about it because it was [for] the role," she told Jimmy Kimmel. But later she was like, "Oh! What is the shape of my head going to look like?" Luckily, she looks great!
Cara Delevingne Shaved Head

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Cara Delevingne

The platinum bleach took her fierce look to the next level — her bright blue eyes really pop. And though she shaved her hair off to play a cancer patient in Life in a Year, she said it was also super liberating. "There are a lot of different things I get to wear [now]," she explained. "I'm preferring more to wear dresses and such, because I get to look at my femininity in a different way."
Keke Palmer Shaved Head

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Keke Palmer

For Keke, cutting her hair was all about letting it grow back healthy. All the styling over the years had taken its toll, so the big chop was about cutting away the damage and letting her natural curls grow freely.
Natalie Portman Shaved Head

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Natalie Portman

The actress famously shaved her head on camera for her role in V For Vendetta, and it's an elegant look for the always gorgeous actress. It's so iconic that it even inspired a band to name themselves Natalie Portman's Shaved Head. "We only had one shot to do it because you can't go back and re-shave [my] head," Natalie said. "But, for me personally, it was a choice I was happy to make."
Kristen Stewart Shaved Head

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Kristen Stewart

The bleached blonde really works for K. Stew! It's just another aspect of her often punk looks, and one we'd welcome back. And while she did it for her upcoming role in Underwater, it was as much for practicality as it was for the role. "I mean, I’m not going to be able to have touch-ups once they put the helmet on my head," she said, but that wasn't the only reason. "I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time, just for novel sake. It feels amazing."
Amber Rose Shaved Head

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Amber Rose

The close crop is our girl's iconic look. And though Muva will occasionally toss a wig on, when we think of shaved heads, we think of Amber. And her look is purely a style choice. "I think that I'd definitely seen Sinead O'Connor's 'Nothing Compares 2 U' video," she said. "I was inspired by her. And I grew up in Philly... Eve was really popular, and my friends said, 'Please don't do it, Amber, you're gonna look crazy.' And, of course, me being me, I rebelled against everyone and went straight down the middle at a barber shop. 14 years later, I still have it."
Amandla Stenberg Shaved Head

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Amandla Stenber

The blue lipstick makes this look even edgier, and we're definitely feeling the inspiration to try out a crazy color of our own. But when Amandla, who's non-binary, first chopped their hair, it was for a role in Where Hands Touch. "I shaved my head for the role. Feels really good. I feel so aerodynamic now. I've achieved ultimate speed," they joked on Instagram.
Olivia Cooke Shaved Head

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Olivia Cooke

Her buzz cut was especially short, leaving little more than stubble, but she still looks completely glam. She went full bald for her role in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl after deciding that bald caps just weren't going to cut it. "I’ve got so much hair and it’s going to look so bulbous... So we shaved my head, and it was the best thing I ever did for the role and for the performance."
Lupita Nyong'o Shaved Head

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Lupita Nyong'o

This might actually be the look we know best from the actress, but we love it no matter what. She's always endlessly classy, whether with long hair or short. But going for the big chop was about exploring her femininity. "I wasn’t sure if I could pull [it] off... [Hair] often defines one’s beauty and feminine value. Almost on a whim, I was like, What if I didn’t have it? And so I shaved it all off – I was a complete baldy!'"
Rose Mcgowan Shaved Head

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Rose McGowan

The activist/actress has been rocking the short 'do for a while now, and we think this is definitely part of her new warrior persona. She went for the shave as a sort of #rebelyell — her words — against sexism in Hollywood. "My long hair had always made me uncomfortable. It felt like I had a plant on my head and a sex target on my back. It made men en masse look at me while the real me disappeared... I was literally told I had to have long hair otherwise the men doing the hiring in Hollywood wouldn't want to f--k me and if they didn't want to f--k me, they wouldn't hire me."
Jessie J Shaved Head

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Jessie J

She had her head shaved on live TV to raise money for Comic Relief, which helps several different charities. And she kept it short for a while afterward to make a statement: "I feel like there's no point in shaving your head for charity if you're then going to just grow it back the next day."
Samira Wiley Shaved Head

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Samira Wiley

This actress can rock the basically-bald look like no other, TBH. Whether she's in street style or haute couture, she knows how to work it. Probably because it's a style she's been rocking for years, though she's recently tried out some other looks. "I've had my hair short for a really long time—it's been nine years," she explained in 2015. "Before I cut it, I had long hair that was everything from permed to straight. I remember when I got into Juilliard — which was just crazy to me, that I would be studying at a school like that — the choice to cut all my hair off was really symbolic for me... It felt like I was making the choice to have a new beginning."
Karen Gillan Shaved Head

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Karen Gillan

She went full bald for her role in Guardians of the Galaxy, but she wasn't afraid to show off her shiny head right away. Even when it got a little longer, she wore it with pride. "It was a really weird experience, but it was also weirdly liberating... And fun and interesting as a social experiment just to see how differently people treated me. I think people were pretty intimidated by me, and I kind of liked it while I was playing the role. It's never happened to me before!" For the sequel, though, she got away with just having to shave the bottom layer of her hair. "I think everybody should [shave their head] once in their life," Karen said — but twice might be too many times.
Danai Gurira Shaved Head

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Danai Gurira

You might recognize her best with her long locks as Michonne on The Walking Dead, but she looks just as good with almost no hair at all. And though she typically keeps it short, she committed to the totally bald look while filming Black Panther. Though it's not that much less hair, it made a huge difference to Danai. "At first, I was like really freaked out. I looked in the mirror and I'd be like, 'Huh?!'... I was like, 'Who is that?' It's so different from having a little bit of hair. I was really freaked out when I first started to do it."
Halsey Shaved Head

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Halsey

She typically alternates between the buzzcut and long, colorful wigs, and while we love the turquoise on her, this natural look is pretty stunning, too. For Halsey, it was about embracing her biracial identity and exploring who she was without that part of her look. "Hair has also been a big indicator of racial issues in my life," she said. "It’s one of the ultimate symbolic struggles for women of color. Shaving my head was important to me because I needed to be able to prove that I could still love myself if I did it."
Solange Shaved Head

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Solange

While Solange didn't initially talk about the look much herself, fans had plenty to say, weighing in on whether they loved the look or hated it. In since-deleted tweets, she gave in and explained her decision, writing that she's gone for the full shave twice before in her life, at 16 and 18, and that she just wanted freedom from the "bondage" black women sometimes place on themselves when it comes to their hair. She was saving her time, energy, and money for things other than hitting up the hair salon on a regular basis.
Kellie Pickler Shaved Head

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Kellie Pickler

While it was completely outside her normal comfort zone, the singer looked fab even without her blonde locks. And she did it to support Summer Holt Miller, a close friend who was going through chemotherapy and battling cancer. She ditched the long locks on Good Morning America, then got a second shave from Ellen Degeneres when her hair started to grow back, even though she was in the middle of working with a new record label and heading out on tour. "Summer and I may not be related by blood, but we are family, and she will always come before work. So right before her first chemo appointment, we got it all shaved off... It was liberating to look at my own face and not have anything to hide under. When there's no hair, you notice everything, all of your features as well as your flaws... I never felt more beautiful."